Stringed musical instrument finger board



y 1963 P. P. scEusA 3,091,150

STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT FINGER BOARD Filed Aug. 50, 1961 FIG. 3

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ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,091,150 STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUIVEENT FINGER BOARD Peter P. Sceusa, 4501 Holleyline, Santa Ana, Calif. Filed Aug. 30, 1961, Ser. No. 134,897 1 Claim. (Cl. 84-293) This invention relates to a guitar, and electric guitar, banjo, violin and other similar stringed instruments, and more particularly to the neck and finger boards therefor.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a guitar, an electric guitar or other similar stringed instrument which can be more easily played by students and women with small hands and wherein the neck of the instrument along which the hand is extended to depress the strings will be of a shape that will conform to the hand between the thrumb and fore-finger and will so make possible the holding of the instrument with the strings upright while resting comfortably in the lap of the player.

It is still another object of the invention to provide the neck of a guitar, an electric guitar or other similar stringed instrument in which the neck of the instrument is provided with an offset bottom surface on its underside conforming to the hand shape between the thumb and finger and in which the tapering is slight and the hand of the player can be kept in the same manner over the neck at any position on the neck on which the player is playing, and wherein the thumb will always be lopped over the more thick portion transversely of the neck which is adjacent to the thumb edge of the neck of the instrument and wherein the less thick portion covers the greater part of the remaining width of the underside of the neck portion so that the distance over which the fingers are extended is shortened to permit the fingers to more easily and readily reach the strings on the top of the neck while at the same time, the thumb is guided on the thickened side of the neck.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a guitar neck that will have a shape that will relax the tendons and muscles of the left hand when depressing the strings, make easy the performance, increase the speed of action, and while permitting the easy use of the finger also permits the playing of the bass side of the guitar with the thumb, and wherein the player will have the better control and feel of action and more comfort in playing for longer periods of time.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a neck of a guitar or similar stringed instrument in which its bottom side, or that which rests in the hand, is of parabolic contour in cross section and the apex of the parabola is offset and closer to the bass string edge of the neck and within the first quarter width of the neck while the long side of the panabolic contour extends throughout the other three quarters of the width of the guitar and neck.

Other objects of the invention are thus to provide a neck of a guitar, an electric guitar or the like instrument having the above objects in mind, which is of simple construction, easy to shape, of a little weight, adds little cost to the instrument, dresses and renders the instrument more pleasing in appearance, efiicient and effective in use.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which FIGURE 1 is a bottom plan view of an electric guitar having the neck shape on the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged bottom plan view of a fragment of the neck with illustration made as to the manner in which the left hand of the player grasps the same,

3,091,150 Patented May 28, 1963 v ce . FIG. 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the guitar neck showing the position of the thumb when the fingers are used to play chords and extends across the more than one string of the instrument, and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged oross sectional view as viewed on line 4-4 of FIG. 2 with illustration made as to how the true shape of the underside of the guitar neck fits the hand between the thumb and fingers.

Referring now to the figures, 10 represents the main body of the musical instrument which in this view is an electric guitar of a type that is used with electronic pick up equipment and remote sounding board and from which there extends a neck or finger board 11 over which the hand is moved to depress instrument strings 12. The main body 10 is recessed at 13 to accommodate the hand for depressing the tense gut and wire strings 12 that run along the full extent of the top of the neck, and which are plucked, the strings shown :only in part on the top of the neck and running throughout the extent of the neck from roll pins 14 and turn keys 16 well over the body 10 at the front side thereof and anchored to a string tail plate 17 connected to the front face of the sounding board 10 by buttons 18. The strings 12 and tail plate 17 are shown in dotted line because the views are bottom ones.

The main body 10 has a front sound opening 19' over which the strings extend to impart their vibrations to the interior of the body 10. The neckv 11 is flat on its.

front side and is provided with the usual fret or ridges 21 spaced equidistantly from one another along the top of the neck and against which the strings 12 are depressed and retained by the fingers of the hand while the neck is held in the palm of the hand between the thumb and the fingers in order to provide for this better grip of the hand so that the thumb can be kept easily along the bass edge of the neck, and according to the invention the shape in section of the neck is provided with a contour that best fits the hand between the thumb and fingers and which continues uniformly substantially the same shape except for but slight tapering of the fingerboard, throughout the full length and extent of the neck against the frets 21 of which the tense strings 13 are depressed.

'I he handgrip contour in section is substantially that of a parabola as best illustrated at 22, FIG. 4 but with its apex as at 21 being offset from the center of the finger board 11 this apex lying in but one quarter the width of the finger board and adjacent a bass edge 23 thereof, the long side of the parabola while the apex is provided in the quarter width and adjacent to the bass edge, extending into the remaining three quarters of the width of the finger board 11 and down to a minimum thickness so as to allow the palm of the hand to be more comfortably extended over the bottom of the finger board 11 and the fingers of the hand in etfect lengthened so that they can more conveniently span over the treble edge 24 of the board 11, the tense strings 12 running along the top of the finger board 11 and at the same time permitting the bass strings to be depressed by the thumb.

In FIG. 3, there is shown a hand positioned with the thumb away from the edge and so that several of the frets or ridges along the top of the finger board can be stretched between the forefinger and the little finger. This shape of section is best shown in FIG. 4 and as will be noted in FIGS. 2 and 3, remains substantially the same throughout the length of the finger board 11 but may be slightly smaller at the outer end of the finger board because of the slight taper that may be provided but this taper is so slight that the width of the neck and the closeness of the strings varies only of negligible amount.

The key boxes 25 are shown from the bottom side of the finger board from which the pins 14 extend at the top of the finger board 11. The key boxes extend through the thickness of scroll peg board 26 at the outer end of the finger board.

The slight margin of taper from the first fret at the far end of the fingerboard i l to the frets near the guitar body 16 makes it necessary to keep the high point or apex 21 at the one fourth-three fourths ratio throughout the length of the fingerboard 11 in order to always keep the hand of the player in the same position for playing chords at either end of the fingerboard, especially in fast action playing with the thumb wrapped around the neck as shown in FIG. 2 or with the first or index finger either in lower register or high register of the neck as shown in FIG. 3.

It should now be apparent that there has been provided a guitar, an electric guitar or similar string instrument which has a finger board or neck that is shaped to comfortably fit the hand between the thumb and palm and so that the thumb may be maintained over the bass edge of the finger board while permitting the fingers to extend to the tense strings on the top of the finger board. It should also be apparent that the guitarist who plays the bass side of the guitar with the thumb has better control and feel of action and more comfort in playing and thus is more relaxed and can play longer periods of time without tiring. The guitarist who bars the strings for his chords with the index finger of the left hand can reach the bass side of the finger board with greater ease and comfort. All of this results from the ofiset parabola contour of the bottom of the face of the finger board ofiset to fit the natural contour of the crotch in the left hand bet-ween the index finger and thumb.

It should be further apparent that this contour remains substantially uniform and of the same shape throughout the full extent of the bottom face of the finger board over which the left hand slides while the tense strings 12 of the instrument are being plucked by the right hand over the bottom opening 19, the recess 13 of the body giving more room to accommodate the left hand along the bass of the neck adjacent to the body 10.

While Various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A string musical instrument such as a guitar or the like comprising a body and a finger boa-rd extending outwardly from said body and having bass and treble side edges, tense strings extending over the top of the finger board and adapted to be reached by the fingers of the left hand while the neck is being retained in the hand, said finger board being in section of continuously generally arcuate parabolic shape uniformly throughout the entire length of the finger board except for a slight tapering from the body to the free end, the bottom face thereof having an apex, said apex being offset with respect to a central axis and lying adjacent to the bass edge of the finger board and within the first quarter of the width thereof whereby the bottom face of the finger board will comfortably fit the crotch of the hand between the thumb and forefinger thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 

